PARIS,
19 June 2000 - Better to be born an opera singer than a ballet dancer
in Italy, for despite the number of highly trained classical dancers
there who spend much of their careers dancing abroad more from lack of
interest than lack of funding dance has always been the eternal second
to opera. Contemporary dance, a mere distant cousin of the
traditional ballet companies in Milan, Rome, and Florence, is even
further down the social scale. However, the wind of change may be on
its way.

Aterballetto, a dance company founded in the Northern
city of Reggio Emilia twenty years ago, and financed by the town, the
region of Emilia Romagna, and the A. T. E. R. (Association of the
Theatre of Emilia Romagna-- hence the name) for the past ten years, is in
the process of becoming an exciting troupe that can hold its own on the
international scene since Mauro Bigonzetti, one of Italy's most
interesting choreographers, was appointed artistic director in March,
1997. He is busy changing its image, and at the Theatre de
Saint-Quentin-en Yvelines, where his company was appearing on their
first visit to Paris, he told me how.

"When I was young, I
had no interest in dance whatsoever", he said. "I was born in
one of the rougher outer suburbs of Rome, and packed off to ballet
school at the age of eleven to keep me off the streets."

"I
thought everything was awful at first, and it wasn't until I was chosen
to take part in a performance at the Opera of Rome, that I suddenly
realised that here was a world of magic. I subsequently became a member
of the Rome Opera Ballet and interpreted many of the great nineteenth
century classics, including the roles of Siegfried and Marco Spada, but
joined Aterballetto when I was twenty-three as I wanted to interpret
modern works by people like Alvin Ailey, William Forsythe, Lucinda
Childs, Glen Tetley, and Amedeo Amodio, the director there", he
said.

"And then ballets gradually began to form in my
mind, and by the time I was thirty, I was creating pieces for several
troupes as well as for Aterballetto, and I gave up dancing to devote
myself entirely to choreography. It was another way for me to express
myself."

"Every time I heard a piece of music,
whether classical like Beethoven or Purcell, or jazz or pop, images
began to move in front of my eyes, engendering an emotion and giving me
the structure of a work, and then I was further inspired by individual
dancers, and by my relationship to them", he told me.

When
he found himself at the head of the company he decided it was time to
give the troupe a strong identity of its own, and to do that, certain
changes were necessary not only in repertoire, but in the quality of the
dancers.

"Before, Aterballetto used to dance the
classical repertoire, and guest stars like Alessandra Ferri and Vladimir
Derevianko were invited to dance the main roles, while the rest of the
troupe made little progress in the corps de ballet", he told me.

"The
first thing to do was raise the technical and artistic level of the
company as it was more interesting to work with my own dancers than to
import guests. Now, everyone is a soloist, and all are classically
trained. The troupe is predominantly Latin, with six dancers from Italy,
four from France, two from Spain, one from Venezuela, one from Syria,
and then there's one Canadian dancer," he added, his sentence a
tumbled jumble of attractively accented English, French and Italian.

'Different' is a word which frequently crops up in
conversation. "We're working more, and harder. Differently. And I'm
creating works for certain dancers, using their specific personality,
and it's very stimulating that they come from different cultural
backgrounds. It makes for a real exchange. It's not easy, but it's
fascinating."

His inventive choreography makes eloquent
use of the company members. He is creating new steps, and original,
dynamic ways of moving. At each turn, there is the unexpected, a gentle
touch of irony; something to surprise. It's not that his work is
revolutionary or avant-garde, it's simply astonishingly innovative, and
oh so unmistakably Italian!

The
director, who has lived in one of the most beautiful cities in the world
almost all his life is quick to point out that he is Roman before
Italian. He studied at the school of Art and Architecture in Rome, and
any spare time was spent meandering round museums and palaces absorbing
everything around him. "I've inevitably been inspired by the works
of art around me, Michelangelo for instance, and all the cultural
references I grew up with and these very Italian influences are
obviously present in my work. After all, dance is a form of sculpture",
he said. "My choreography uses classical language. We have a
classical barre every morning, and in our productions, apart from the
quality of the dancing, musicality, lighting, and atmosphere are
paramount."

"There are several large classical
companies attached to the opera in cities including Milan, Rome and
Florence, but little modern dance, so there's a place in Italy for us,"
he concluded.

The three works presented at the Theatre de
Saint-Quentin-en Yvelines fully illustrated his point.

Persephassa
(1997), to a score by Xénakis, had six percussion groups
positioned at strategic points surrounding the audience. The power and
energy of the music, exceptionally well-chosen, was mirrored by the
vigour and passion of the dancers on stage, who came together and broke
away again in a succession of strong muscular movements. Songs,
where Purcell's music provided both structure and atmosphere for three
dancers was most beautifully interpreted, and Furia Corporis,
where Beethoven was subtly interspersed with offerings from Roberto
Monari, danced by the whole company with verve, humour, and sensuality.

At
a recent press conference at the Theatre de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines,
Bigonzetti thanked Pierre Moutarde, the director there, responsible for
introducing the Italian company to Parisian audiences. Such was their
success, that they have been invited to return in March, 2001, with
Mauro Bigonzetti's version of Midsummer Night's Dream, which the
Italian described as a "comedy of desire".

Mauro
Bigonzetti has been awarded the Danza prize for the best
choreographer of the year. Simultaneously, Aterballetto, has taken the
prize for the best company, and Commedia - canto secondo,
inspired by the Divine Comedy by Dante Aligheri, the award for the best
new work. It will be performed at the Festival of Montpellier at the end
of June.

Patricia
Boccadoro writes on dance from Paris. She contributes to The Guardian,
The Observer and Dancing Times and was dance consultant to the BBC
Omnibus documentary on Rudolf Nureyev. Ms. Boccadoro is the dance editor
for Culturekiosque.com.